Full disclosure, right up top: I’m rooting for Brett Baty to win the Mets’ starting third base job out of spring training. There are many reasons: First, all things being equal I’d prefer to see a young player get playing time rather than a veteran. Playing the kids shows an open-mindedness on the team’s part, as well as a level of faith in young players that allows them to go out on the field with a sense of freedom rather than a fear of failure. It’s forward-looking, which is an important consideration even for a club as well-resourced as the Mets.

But second, I’m a baseball writer who communicates mostly in puns, and to people like me, Baty is a divine blessing. As a general rule, baseball doesn’t do unit-based nicknames as much as hockey or even football, which is a pity. While other sports are rolling out the Legion of Doom or That 70s Line or Gang Green, baseball — a sport with an unparalleled literary and folkloric tradition, I might add — is resting on the laurels of the $100,000 Infield. It’s been more than 30 years since the Nasty Boys, for God’s sake.

So if the Mets end up having an infield of three multi-time All-Stars between the ages of 28 and 30, plus a rookie third baseman, we’re calling it the Three Men and a Baty infield. Agreed? Read the rest of this entry »

Pitchers, hitters, and the rest of us have spent the first couple weeks of this exhibition season adapting to the new pitch clock, but few players have set out to test the boundaries of the rule the way that Max Scherzer has. The future Hall of Famer’s search for an advantage has called to mind the philosophy offered by a hurler he’ll eventually join in Cooperstown, Warren Spahn: “Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing.” And the 38-year-old righty’s first two starts of the spring have demonstrated some ways in which a pitcher might weaponize the clock — and how such efforts might backfire.

Scherzer made his Grapefruit League debut on February 26 at the Mets’ Port St. Lucie Clover Park against the Nationals, throwing two innings and striking out five while allowing three hits and one run. At the outset of the SNY broadcast, Mets play-by-play announcer Gary Cohen foreshadowed the three-time Cy Young winner’s clock-testing efforts by telling viewers, “I think he’d going to love this pitch clock more than anybody else in baseball because he is fully capable of going old school on you, gettin’ it and throwing it.”

While fully capable of pulling the occasional fast one, Scherzer doesn’t particularly stand out in that regard according to Statcast’s new-ish Pitch Tempo metrics, which measure the median time between pitches that follow a take (called strike or ball). Last season, Scherzer averaged 16.6 seconds between such pitches with nobody on base, 1.5 seconds faster than the major league average but a full four seconds slower than major league leader Brent Suter’s 12.6 seconds, and 2.5 seconds slower than Cole Irvin, the fastest pitcher in this context among those who made at least 20 starts last year. Within that latter group, Scherzer ranked 54th-fastest out of 135. Read the rest of this entry »

Grant Hartwig is one of the most promising under-the-radar prospects in the New York Mets system. Moreover, he has one of the more unusual profiles in professional baseball. Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2021, the 25-year-old right-hander has a degree in microbiology and premedical studies from Oxford, Ohio’s Miami University, and he has worked as a medical assistant in a Detroit-area cardiovascular clinic. He also excels on the mound. Pitching at four levels last year in his first full professional season, Hartwig logged a 1.75 ERA with 13 saves and 83 strikeouts in 56-and-two-thirds innings.

Hartwig discussed his Craig Breslow-like background, as well as the movement profiles of his primary pitches, late last season.

———

David Laurila: Your path to pro ball was atypical. Tell me about it.

Grant Hartwig: “Out of high school, I was just planning to go to college, which I did, and after graduation I was planning on going to medical school. I went to my teammate’s draft party — Sam Bachman went ninth overall to the Angels — and I remember going home ready to move on. But later that week, I was in the middle of an MCAT practice exam — I was about five hours in — and got a call from a random number. I muted it. Then I got a call from my pitching coach, which surprised me because I was done with school and had talked to him two weeks earlier. He told me that I was going to be offered a contract to play baseball. I told him, ‘Hey, I think I just got that call, and I hung up on them.’ Read the rest of this entry »

Software Engineering Associate, Baseball Systems

Location: Citi Field – Queens, New York

Job Description:
The New York Mets are seeking a Software Engineering Associate. This associate will design, build, test, and deploy mobile and web applications that enrich the Mets data ecosystem and inform decision-making within Baseball Operations. The ideal candidate would be an engineering generalist with prior experience. Prior experience in or knowledge of baseball is a plus but is not required.

Pay Rate:
$18.15/hr

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Develop exciting user-facing features
• Collaborate with a variety of internal stakeholders to validate designs and facilitate clean rollouts and deployments of new products
• Integrate with a variety of third-party APIs to enrich the New York Mets data ecosystem
• Document technical architectures and baseball-specific systems
• Maintain and update a broad collection of internal applications that enhance player development, scouting, and executive decision making
• Job will include mentorship, hands-on production coding, building and fixing tools for baseball stakeholders

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field
• 1+ years of relevant work experience
• Some experience in Javascript (including React, React Native, and/or Node.js frameworks)
• Some cloud experience (AWS, GCP, etc)
• SQL experience
• Familiarity with modern agile practices and development tools
• Ability to work collaboratively with others
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Prior experience in baseball is a plus

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Product Design Associate, Baseball Systems

Location: Citi Field – Queens, New York

Job Description:
The New York Mets are seeking a Product Design Associate. This designer will work with Baseball Systems to help design the user experience of mobile and web applications that enrich the Mets data ecosystem and inform decision-making within Baseball Operations. This position requires a designer that is comfortable designing low- and high-fidelity mockups for a wide array of stakeholders within Baseball Operations. The ideal candidate would have a strong grasp of modern design tools with prior experience rapid prototyping and working collaboratively within a software engineering team. Prior experience in or knowledge of baseball is a plus but is not required.

Pay Rate:
$18.15/hr

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Day-to-day design production working with product managers, engineers, and designers, leveraging our design system to maintain brand consistency across products and optimize the full product life cycle
• Create UX related design assets such as wireframes, sitemaps, user stories, user journeys, and prototypes to help illustrate solutions
• Take part in qualitative and quantitative data collection across the organization to validate the development and adoption of new tools and features
• Stay up to date on UX/UI best practices, patterns, and disciplines
• Take part in design reviews and feedback sessions where you will present your work as well as provide feedback to others
• A willingness to learn, and a hunger to problem solve

Qualifications:

• 1+ years of relevant experience in UX or product design
• Portfolio of UX and product design projects with an eye toward process and collaboration
• Strong proficiency in Figma and other collaborative design and prototyping tools
• Ability to work cooperatively with others
• Familiarity/experience within an agile environment
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Prior experience in front-end development, including CSS, is a plus
• Prior experience in baseball is a plus

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Product Management Associate, Baseball Systems

Location: Citi Field – Queens, New York

Job Description:
The New York Mets Baseball Systems Department is seeking a Product Management Associate that will help reinforce the product development lifecycle in partnership with teams across baseball operations to the build-out of internal products in collaboration with Software Engineering and Design.

Pay Rate:
$18.15/hr

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Help lead the development and implementation process for products throughout the product development lifecycle
• Facilitate broad collaboration with clear communications and documentation
• Collect and analyze relevant feedback and take action accordingly
• Drive and track key results, success criteria, and performance metrics in order to leverage insights on product performance and user needs
• Develop and execute plans under a set of implementation and delivery time constraints, optimizing for a blend of cost, schedule, and features
• Analyze current user experiences to identify friction points in order to create simple and effective experiences
• This opportunity will allow you to identify investment opportunities, evaluate tradeoffs, and drive the product roadmap

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree is strongly preferred
• Strong analytical capabilities coupled with good business savvy
• Attention to detail without becoming lost in the details
• Strong communication, organization skills, mentality, and eagerness to learn
• Ability to operate in an environment of ambiguity with diverse partners
• Strong knowledge pertaining to information technology including proficiencies with Excel and other Microsoft Office software.
• Interest or experience in leading projects with a strong organizational mindset
• Spanish speaking skills are a plus
• SQL/Analytical experience is a plus
• Ability to work evenings, weekends, or holiday hours.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the New York Mets.

Associate, Minor League Analytics (Dominican Republic)

Location: New York Mets Complex – Dominican Republic

Job Description:
The New York Mets are seeking a DR Associate Analyst in Baseball Analytics. This analyst will be based in the Dominican Republic Academy. The Analyst will spend the full year at the Academy, from Spring Training through the end of the season.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Drive the direction of Player Plans by working with the Player Development & Performance departments to choose the right individual development focus and find ways to measure progress 
• Interpret data and model-based results on internal reports and websites to help coaches use the information to work with their players 
• Help young players learn their strengths and areas for improvement by educating them on how to use data to enhance their development 
• Work with the other affiliate analysts to help improve each other’s understanding of the game and our minor league players, especially as players transfer from one affiliate to another 
• Modify existing codebase and develop new automated reports to be used by coaches and players before games 
• Develop a strong understanding of the various types of technology that are used throughout Player Development 
• Provide feedback to the rest of Baseball Analytics and Baseball Systems on reports, models, and tools that relate to Player Development 
• Collaborate with members of Player Development, including coordinators and the coaching staff, to help the affiliate prepare for games and to help the players develop their skills 
• As time permits, analysts will be assigned additional coding and/or statistical modeling projects relating to Player Development 
• Additional ad hoc requests from Baseball Analytics and Player Development in line with these job responsibilities 

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a quantitative field or equivalent experience 
• Fluency in Spanish 
• Firm understanding of modern baseball technology 
• Basic proficiency in R, Python, or similar, as well as proficiency in SQL 
• Strong communication skills 
• Statistical modeling experience is a plus 
• Ability to work cooperatively with others 
• Willingness to spend the season at the DR Academy throughout the duration of the season, which includes working nights, weekends, and holidays as dictated by the team’s schedule 

The above information is intended to describe the general nature, type, and level of work to be performed. The information is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required for this position. Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time. The individual selected may perform other related duties as assigned or requested.

The New York Mets recognize the importance of a diverse workforce and value the unique qualities individuals of various backgrounds and experiences can offer to the Organization. Our continued success depends heavily on the quality of our workforce. The Organization is committed to providing employees with the opportunity to develop to their fullest potential.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the New York Mets.

The modern game of baseball is defined by power and strength. You can turn on any game at any time and watch a guy swing his behind off as he launches a 100 mph fastball 450 feet. Of course, that wasn’t always so common — a lot of players used to swing for contact instead of the fences. Today, that skill set is more of a rarity, though there are still a few hitters who choke up on the handle and spray the ball from line to line. Jeff McNeil is perhaps one of the best in this category. Fresh off a batting tile, McNeil was due for a raise in arbitration. Instead, he and the Mets agreed to a four-year, $50 million extension.

The deal buys out McNeil’s two remaining arbitration years and two potential free agent years, taking him through his age-34 season. There’s also a $12.5 million club option for the 2027 season, giving the extension a chance to max out at five years and $62.5 million. On the surface, that seems like a bargain for a player coming off a 5.9 WAR, 143 wRC+ season that also saw him play the best defense of his career according to OAA. However, the free agent market doesn’t tend to be particularly generous to players who are over 30 or rely on contact as much as McNeil does. I asked Dan Szymborski if he could cook up a ZiPS estimate for a McNeil extension and as it turns out, the contract he signed isn’t as much of a bargain as I initially suspected. Including the discounts for the two cost-controlled arbitration years, ZiPS would have offered McNeil a five-year, $69 million extension. That is only $6.5 million more than the maximum the Mets offered when you include the club option. Dan also provided me with McNeil’s projected performance for the life of the contract:

Read the rest of this entry »

Tommy Pham has only played in nine major league seasons, accruing a little more than seven and a half seasons’ worth of service time. It feels like it should be more. This man has drifted to so many ports, made headlines for conduct meritorious, ignoble, and points in between. He has lived and died a hundred times in a baseball uniform, and every one of those lives has been fascinating. Pham is as close as you’ll get among millennials to one of those old-timey ballplayers with an unbelievable backstory, like Dazzy Vance or Turkey Mike Donlin. Now he’s a New York Met, signed to a one-year, $6 million deal with another $2 million possible in incentives.

I’ll leave the fantasy football jokes to the comment section, but I will mention what Andy Martino of SNY noted as the news broke:

Yes, Tommy Pham slapped a man because of fantasy football, but the background work Mets did on him turned up intel that he's a very well-liked teammate and good clubhouse presence. The man he slapped was on a different ballclub, after all

— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) January 18, 2023

Read the rest of this entry »

Carlos Correa is a Minnesota Twin. There’s a contract, there was a press conference, he joked about his son growing up Minnesota Nice — after almost a month of bizarre uncertainty, Correa’s future is locked down. Which probably means you’ll start trusting this in your gut somewhere around mid-August.

Spare a thought for the Mets and Giants, both of which were thought to have signed Correa last month, before those deals fell through. Neither club deserves that much sympathy, because both reneged on $300 million-plus contract offers on the basis of troubling medical reports. The Twins seem convinced that Correa’s fibulas are not made of marzipan, after all. And don’t be a coastal snob, they have good doctors in Minnesota — the Mayo Clinic, and so on.

But while it was the Mets and Giants who left Correa at the altar, and not the other way around, both teams were ostensibly making plans to build a lineup around one of the best infielders in baseball. And while there was never any official announcement, the public was in a frenzy. Unlicensed swag was sold, tickets purchased, blogs posted on the premise that Correa would be a Met and/or a Giant.

Now, both clubs are bereft of their erstwhile top free agent signing. And both teams are left to contemplate Bolton’s First Interrogative: How am I supposed to live without you? Read the rest of this entry »

For the 18th consecutive season, the ZiPS projection system is unleashing a full set of prognostications. For more information on the ZiPS projections, please consult this year’s introduction and MLB’s glossary entry. The team order is selected by lot, and the next team up is the New York Mets.

Batters

Closing a deal with Carlos Correa would obviously improve the team’s outlook, but the situation at third base — Correa’s likely position — is hardly dire. Eduardo Escobar is a league-average if quite unexciting player, and if his thumb is better, Brett Baty ought to provide additional depth as the season goes on. Even if I’m not quite as optimistic about Brandon Nimmo’s attendance record as the depth charts are, he has a long history of providing a lot of value even while missing a lot of games. Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor are elite players at their respective positions, and Jeff McNeil isn’t that far off that status. Mark Canha and Starling Marte make up a solid supporting cast. Read the rest of this entry »

The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2023 Hall of Fame ballot. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, and other candidates in the series, use the tool above; an introduction to JAWS can be found here. For a tentative schedule, and a chance to fill out a Hall of Fame ballot for our crowdsourcing project, see here. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball-Reference version unless otherwise indicated.

For so many who have practiced it, the knuckleball has been a pitch of last resort, an offering turned to only when a pitcher is hanging onto his career literally by his fingertips, as Jim Bouton described his situation in the introduction to Ball Four. Some have thrived with the pitch, with Phil Niekro and Hoyt Wilhelm riding it all the way to Cooperstown, but until R.A. Dickey mastered his so-called “angry knuckleball,” no such pitcher ever won the Cy Young Award. Read the rest of this entry »